Saint George slaying the dragon: holy scenes in a Ge'ez manuscript

[Biblia aethiopica - VT - Psalmi]. [Manuscript Ge'ez Psalter].

€ 3,500.00

Ge'ez manuscript with four full-page illuminations, depicting the Virgin and Child, St George slaying the dragon, the Annunciation, and St Paul. The manuscript includes prayers and Biblical texts written in Ge'ez, the ancient liturgical language of the Orthodox Churches of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The Ge'ez manuscript tradition is one of the oldest in the Christian world. With Christianity introduced to the region in the fourth century, the earliest attested Ge'ez Gospels are dated (with some debate) to the sixth century. It is in Ge'ez that the tradition of writing Christian holy books by hand in precious manuscripts has persisted the furthest into the modern age, long after it had been abandoned by most of the Christian world.